Tech Hosts Virginia Tech for Senior Day

THE FLATS -
Georgia Tech finishes out its Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season schedule, and its four seniors will play their final regular-season home game when the Yellow Jackets host Virginia Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday at McCamish Pavilion.

The game will get a national audience on ESPN2, while radio coverage of the game will be provided by the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network and can be heard in Atlanta on All News 106.7 FM. The Tech radio broadcast can be heard nationally on satellite radio (Sirius ch. 113, XM ch. 193).

Tech (14-16, 5-12 ACC) snapped a four-game losing streak in solid fashion Tuesday night, knocking off 7th-ranked Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in a game the Yellow Jackets led from the 12-minute mark of the first half through the end. The win left the Yellow Jackets with a 5-7 road record this season, their best under Brian Gregory, and a 3-6 road mark in the ACC, matching last year's record.

In its third season under head coach Brian Gregory, Tech played its first 10 ACC games with no more than nine scholarship players, sometimes with as few as seven. Senior guard and leading scorer Trae Golden (groin), who missed most if not all of the first five games in February, and sophomore forward Robert Carter, Jr. (knee), who missed Tech's first 10 ACC games, both seem to be rounding back into their pre-injury form.

Virginia Tech (9-20, 2-15 ACC) is locked into last place in the ACC standings after dropping a 64-47 decision Tuesday night at Maryland. The Hokies, in their second season under head coach James Johnson, have swept Miami for their only two ACC wins this season.

Tech begins the weekend in 13th place in the ACC, and mathematically can earn the 11th, 12th or 13th seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C.

ACC Tournament Possibilities for Georgia Tech

 The bottom six teams in the ACC standings are locked in and will play Wednesday in the ACC Tournament's opening round in Greensboro. The No. 12 seed faces the No. 13 seed at 1 p.m., followed by No. 10 vs. No. 15 at 3:30 p.m., and No. 11 vs. No. 14 at 7 p.m. No. 14 Boston College and No. 15 Virginia Tech are locked into their seeds.

 If the tournament began today, Tech would be the No. 13 seed and face No. 12 Notre Dame (finished at 6-12) at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the tournament.

 The winner of Saturday's Wake Forest-Miami (both 6-11) game will take the No. 10 seed outright. The loser will fall into a tie with Notre Dame at 6-12.

 If Tech defeats Virginia Tech Saturday, it will create a three-way tie for 11th place. If that tie includes Miami, the Hurricanes will take the No. 11 seed by virtue of their 2-0 record against Tech and Notre Dame. That would leave the Yellow Jackets and the Fighting Irish, each 1-2 vs. the other two teams in that tie, to play the 12 vs. 13 game, and a tiebreaker would be utilized to determine the home team.

 If that three-way tie includes Wake Forest, Tech grabs the No. 11 seed by virtue of its 2-1 record against the other two. Wake Forest is 1-1 vs. Tech and Notre Dame, and Notre Dame is 1-2 vs. Tech and Wake Forest.

 If Tech loses to Virginia Tech Saturday and Boston College wins its game at NC State Sunday, they would tie for 13th place, but the Yellow Jackets would get the No. 13 seed by virtue of its two wins against the Eagles.

Golden is a transfer from Tennessee playing his final season closer to home (Powder Springs, Ga.) for family reasons. He has been Tech's leading scorer for most of the season, and also leads the Yellow Jackets in assists and free throw shooting.

Miller (Loganville, Ga.) and Holsey (Sparta, Ga.) are fifth-year seniors who red-shirted as freshmen in 2009-10, the last year Tech played in the NCAA Tournament. Miller has never missed a game, and in fact has started all 123 games Tech has played during that time (through Tuesday night), while Holsey has missed only one in four seasons, starting 57.

Morris (Augusta, Ga.) has fallen victim to various foot injuries over his last two years after starting 25 games over his first two seasons, and has played just nine games this year. He has played in 89 games and scored more than 500 points.

Tech also will honor four senior managers - Ivi Hoxhaj, Drew Klaer, Josh Partridge and Chase Randolph. The pre-game ceremony will take place with 12 minutes on the pre-game clock.

Fast Break Points

 Georgia Tech's 67-62 win over No. 7 Syracuse Tuesday night was its second over a top-10 team on the road under Brian Gregory, and it came almost a year to the day after the Yellow Jackets defeated No. 6 Miami (March 6, 2013) last season.

 With a win Saturday, Tech's seniors will have a .500 record (31-31) in their last two seasons after going 24-38 in their first two seasons.

 Daniel Miller will be playing (and starting) in his 124th game Saturday, having never missed one in his career, while Kammeon Holsey will be playing his 123rd (starting his 58th). They will tie for 13th and 18th, respectively, all time at Tech in games played.

 Georgia Tech finished the regular season with a 5-7 record on the road, its best in three seasons under Brian Gregory and its best since the 2007-08 season. Tech has posted only one winning record on the road since 1995-96, a 7-5 mark in its Final Four season of 2003-04.

 Georgia Tech's last seven ACC road trips have produced three wins, an overtime loss, a three-point loss, a four-point loss and a 10-point loss. Tech has won six of its last 14 ACC road games after winning only three times in 36 ACC road games before that dating back to the 2008-09 season.

 Georgia Tech is 9-7 at McCamish Pavilion this season, but only 2-6 against the ACC. Tech's home ACC wins are against Notre Dame (Jan. 11) and Boston College (Feb. 13).

 Tech currently has its fullest complement of players available that it has had since the conference schedule began - nine scholarship players with the return of Robert Carter, Jr., from a knee injury and Trae Golden from a groin pull. Neither Carter, Jr., nor Golden is 100 percent effective, however, and senior forward Kammeon Holsey is playing through persistent pain in his right knee, which he injured prior to his freshman year.

 The Yellow Jackets have played with as few as seven scholarship players at times. The other five have missed a total of 75 games this season (Carter, Jr., 10, Golden 2, Jorgenson 26, Morris 21, Poole 16). Head coach Brian Gregory has used nine different starting lineups.

Series Notes vs. Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech has won 14 of 19 all-time meetings with Georgia Tech, including 10 of 14 as a member of the ACC.

 The two teams split their 2012-13 regular-season meetings, each winning on the other's home court. Virginia Tech captured a 70-65 overtime decision at McCamish Pavilion, and Georgia Tech snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with a 64-54 victory a month later in Blacksburg.

 The Feb. 9 win in Blacksburg was the first ever for Georgia Tech at Cassell Coliseum in eight tries. The Hokies have won five of seven meetings in Atlanta, including four of six in the Yellow Jackets' former home arena, Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

 Tech has defeated Virginia Tech only twice in six meetings at home since the Hokies joined the ACC, and the Yellow Jackets received extroardinary performances by a couple of individuals to win those games. On Jan. 19, 2008, reserve guard Matt Causey came off the bench to hit seven threes and pour in 30 points in the Jackets' 81-70 victory. On Jan. 25, 1911, current New York Knick Iman Shumpert recorded the fourth triple-double in Tech history with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the Jackets' 72-57 win.

 The Hokies, led by future NBA star Dell Curry, held off the Jackets and their future All-Americans Mark Price and John Salley, 77-74, in the teams' first meeting at Cassell Coliseum in 1984.

 The teams have split two ACC Tournament encounters, the Jackets capturing a 73-54 victory in the first round of the 2005 tournament in Washington, D.C., and the Hokies winning a 59-43 decision in the fi rst round in 2011.

 Georgia Tech's first victory over Virginia Tech occurred on Dec. 27, 1962, a 73-72 overtime triumph at the Gator Bowl Tournament that was part of an 11-0 start for the Yellow Jackets. Tech went on to finish the season 21-5. Both teams were ranked in the UPI poll at the time, Georgia Tech at No. 18, Virginia Tech at No. 14.

 Both teams were members of the old Metro Conference, but not at the same time. Georgia Tech was a member for three seasons from 1975-76 through 1977-78 before leaving to join the ACC. Virginia Tech joined the league for the 1978-79 season.

About Georgia Tech Men's Basketball

Georgia Tech's men's basketball team is in its third year under head coach Brian Gregory. The Yellow Jackets have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships, played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004).